Olympics/2012 Summer Games: Mick O'Keeffe looks at the principal cities and their bids and argues we should be throwing our weight behind the London bid because of the knock-on benefits Ireland would accrue.
There are fewer than 200 days left before the International Olympic Council (IOC) decision on who will stage the 2012 Games is announced in Singapore in July, and the Irish should have more than a passing interest in how this goes.
If the London bid spearheaded by Olympic legend Seb Coe is successful, the spin-off for Ireland in the years and months leading up the Games could be phenomenal when the greatest sporting show on earth comes to a town close by.
The economic benefits for a city hosting the Olympics are enormous in the short and long term. Cities undergo radical transport and sporting infrastructure changes which benefit the city long after the Olympic circus leaves town. Most of all, the Games give a city a chance to showcase itself to watching millions all over the world.
However, it is not just the city that benefits, as several events are held in neighbouring towns and cities and nearby countries welcome training and acclimatisation camps. Scotland and Wales have already thrown their weight behind the London bid, obviously seeing the benefits that the Olympics would bring to them.
When the Games were held in Athens in 2004, nearby Cyprus benefited enormously as it played host to several nations' pre-Games acclimatisation and warm-weather training camps in the years and months leading into the Greek Games. To do so, the Cypriot authorities invested heavily in sporting infrastructure to provide top-class training facilities.
The Cypriot Tourism Board and the Cyprus Sports Organisation (equivalent of the Irish Sports Council) got together years in advance of the Athens Games and directly targeted countries who were looking for pre-games camps. Limassol and Paphos, for instance, had international-standard running tracks, gyms and hockey and soccer pitches where teams could train before moving on for the short trip to Greece.
Indeed, most of Ireland's Olympians and Paralympians were based for several weeks in Cyprus before moving on to Athens. Britain and Sweden were other nations who availed of the facilities available in Cyprus.
Sports such as sailing, equestrian and athletics all require that participants are used to performing in local weather conditions. Ireland, if we can provide the facilities, is in the ideal position to play host to nations with serious ambitions in the weeks, months and years leading into the Games.
Olympic teams will undoubtedly be based in cities all over Britain and perhaps in places like Belgium, Holland and Northern France, but Dublin is only an hour from London and may prove an attractive pre-Games destination.
The onus is on us to put in place world-class facilities in places like Limerick, Cork and Dublin that can accommodate world-class athletes. The National Aquatic Centre is one such facility, but we need similar-standard athletics tracks, hockey and soccer pitches to be in a position to attract teams.
The long-term benefit of having world-class training facilities in centres around the country is obvious for the betterment of Irish sport and the economic rewards of having several countries base their pre-Games camps in Ireland would be welcomed.
Not alone this, but Ireland could play host to major pre-Olympic international athletic, sailing and equestrian events in the years from Beijing to London. We should lobby hard for a vote for London 2012, and one can be sure IOC delegate Pat Hickey, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, is more than aware of the benefits a successful London bid would have for Ireland.
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce have carried out extensive studies on the benefit of having major international sporting events in Dublin, and although they have not directly studied the potential spin-offs of a successful London bid, a spokesperson claimed that with the appropriate facilities on a par with the NAC in Abbotstown, hosting pre-Games competitions and training camps would benefit us financially.
It is, though, the legacy of world-class sporting facilities that will prove to be the real benefit.
So what is the state of play in the bidding process? Who will win the right to host the 2012 Games?
As things stand, the selection process is as exciting (and as controversial) as ever. The five cities in contention are Paris, London, New York, Moscow and Madrid - five extremely powerful and wealthy cities with proud and long sporting traditions.
The December 5th meeting of the 48 European Olympic Committee (EOC) delegates in the scenic Croatian Adriatic port city of Dubrovnik has given us a far clearer picture of who is most likely to be in the shake-up come July 6th in Singapore.
EOC delegates reported that Paris was still marginally the front-runner, due in no small part to the French passion for the Olympics. The French can rely on a lot of European support, particularly the Belgians, who provide the powerful IOC president in the form of Jacques Rogge.
Paris has so much going for it as a bidding city it would take a Herculean effort from another city to change the situation in the next six months. Paris has a strong record in hosting major international sporting events and successfully held the 1998 World Cup and the 2003 World Athletic Championships. Paris will also have the perfect warm-up gig when it welcomes the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The French capital is also Paralympic-friendly and has excellent transport and accommodation facilities.
Crucially, the French are the only ones with the sporting infrastructure in place and can list venues including the splendid Stade de France, Roland Garros (tennis), Parc de Princes (soccer) and the romantic possibility of seeing beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower and shooting beside the Palace of Versailles.
As things stand, Paris is still the hot favourite, although the race is far from over and some French complacency has allowed both New York and London to catch up.
What has also given the other bid cities heart is the fact the Paris bid "pitch" in Dubrovnik was delivered only in French and many EOC delegates found the 10-minute presentation "uninspiring", particularly the input from the dull mayor, Bertrand Delanoë.
Paris is seen as the city that will definitely be in the last two, probably the favoured choice of the non-English-speaking nations' delegates who tend to vote against English-speaking cities.
London, hosts of the 1948 Games, is the second favourite, and the most likely English-speaking bidding city to go toe to toe with Paris in the frantic last few weeks of campaigning.
The London bid is headed by 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1,500 metre champion Seb Coe and CEO Keith Mills. The presentation in Croatia was smooth and impressive and gained considerable approval from the delegates.
In a surprising severe lack of judgment, though, the London 2012 bid was the only city not to have their mayor present, as Ken Livingstone thought it best not to attend for reasons known only to himself. Every other city produced the mayor, including Michael Bloomberg from New York.
Further negatives for London are the potential transport issues that Prime Minister Blair has promised will be sorted in time.
More seriously, though, the recent BBC Panorama documentary that revealed open corruption in the selection process has severely hurt London's chances. Bulgarian IOC delegate Ivan Slavkov is facing expulsion after been caught revealing approaches from representatives associated in some way to the London bid.
On the plus side, the bid is gathering momentum and Blair is putting his full weight behind it.
New York is fast becoming a threat, and an excellent showing in Dubrovnik has put them in the frame again. If the Paris presentation was average and the London one very good in Dubrovnik, then New York was brilliant.
Many Asian andAfrican delegates are keen on the idea of New York hosting the Games, even if Atlanta held the Games only in 1996 and LA in 1984.
Indeed, Vancouver is hosting the 2010 winter Olympics and although the IOC denies it has no continental rotation, it is unusual to have the summer and winter Games in the same continent. This is likely to hurt New York.
Another factor against the New York bid is that the city and the nation is not exactly head over heels about the Paralympics. The US has only recently warmed to disability sport and the IOC now places huge emphasis on how a city promotes the Paralympics and its enthusiasm towards disability sports.
The New York bid will be hurt by IOC annoyance at NBC's dismissive attitude towards the Paralympic Games which it gave little or no coverage, in direct contrast with the BBC's daily live and repeat shows. The very notion of Games for disabled athletes was born in England and Team GB has an outstanding Paralympic history and the British media give a huge amount of coverage to disabled sport.
According to those present, mayor Bloomberg was absolutely outstanding in Dubrovnik, chatting with EOC delegates and pledging support to the controversial project to build the Olympic stadium in west Manhattan.
The battle between New York and London to be the number one choice for English-speaking nations will be fascinating, but London is in control at present.
New York holds some fascination still with many delegates and may gain some post 9/11 sympathy and can host certain events in glamorous and historic sporting theatres such as Yankee Stadium for baseball, Madison Square Garden (boxing), Giants Stadium (soccer) and Flushing Meadows for tennis. The triathlon is also proposed for Central Park.
New York must overcome London as the second biggest contender before a showdown with Paris, but it remains to be seen if London can withstand that challenge.
The Madrid bid is seen as stale and losing momentum, but the recent racist chanting at the England-Spain international has not unduly affected the city's hopes. Madrid was once seen as a real contender, particularly as the IOC places so much emphasis on environmentally friendly cities and Madrid was promising a "car-free and green" Games. However, the Spanish capital has faded and will not be seriously in the shake-up when the ballots are cast.
Moscow, home to 500 Olympic medallists, is seen as a "no hoper", and their inept, 1970s-style video presentation in Dubrovnik was amateurish by the standards of the London and New York slick, stylish and creative presentations. Moscow's claim that it can transport 60,000 visitors by river is hardly going to sway many voters.
The battle will come down between London, New York and Paris in the next few months and then either London or New York in a straight fight with Paris. It is likely at this stage it will be a showdown between London and Paris, with only a handful of votes between the two.
All of the cities have huge advantages and there is a certain romanticism attached to cities like Paris, New York and London. Whether it is beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower, a floating warm-up track on the Hudson River or tennis in Wimbledon and soccer in Wembley, the three frontrunners have the financial muscle, political support and ready-built infrastructure to stage wonderful Olympics.
The Irish sporting public should have more than a passing interest when the decision is made in July.
Paris is most likely to be the venue of the 2012 Summer Olympic games, according to a Reuters survey of 32 sports journalists in over 20 countries. The French capital was picked by 18 of the respondents as most likely to beat competition from New York, London, Madrid and Moscow when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) make the decision on July 6th.
"France has been hosting many successful events in recent years - the (soccer) World Cup in 1998 and the world championships in athletics in 2003," said Jens Littorin at Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm. "They have a good bid and from a security point of view it might be the best choice."
Paris previously hosted the summer Games in 1900 and 1924 and on the latter occasion just 44 countries sent athletes. That compares to the 202 nations represented in Athens this year.
The city's strengths include a good transport network and plenty of accommodation.
It also has many of the necessary sports facilities in place already.
